. . . I get really annoyed at people who cite their Cherokee ancestry, for example, when it was, like iguanas example, a great-great-great-great-great-grandmother and they have no clue what it means to be Indian.

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Yeah, a lot of Americans who may have a tiny percentage of Cherokee blood will play up that part of their ancestry because they think it makes them more interesting.

At least they speak the language and are familiar with the culture, which is more than many people who call themselves "Italians" (i.e. Americans with maybe an Italian great-grandfather) do.

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To be fair, there is a pretty distinct Italian-American culture on some parts of the states, but I get what you're saying.

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While true, Italian-American culture isn't the same thing as Italian culture. And I say this as an Italian-American (ish) who does speak Italian (that I had to learn in school, but at least my Grandfather spoke Italian).

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That's what I meant. There is a distinct, peculiar Italian-American culture in the US, which is actually very interesting and worthy of pride.

But it ain't Italian, and it annoys me slightly to see people boast (especially with regards to 'ethnicity') "I'm half-Italian!" Uh, no, you are not.

To be fair, there is a pretty distinct Italian-American culture on some parts of the states, but I get what you're saying.

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While true, Italian-American culture isn't the same thing as Italian culture. And I say this as an Italian-American (ish) who does speak Italian (that I had to learn in school, but at least my Grandfather spoke Italian).

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That's what I meant. There is a distinct, peculiar Italian-American culture in the US, which is actually very interesting and worthy of pride. But it ain't Italian, and it annoys me slightly to see people boast "I'm half-Italian!" Uh, no, you are not.

Eh, the Amish don't pasteurize their milk as an entire community, so while I think it's weird at best for an outsider it's never really bothered me.

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I'm talking about the raw milk movement, not the Amish. The Raw Mild crowd are separate group of brainwashed farmers, and altogether stupider.

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Wow... just... wow... I grew up on a farm, drank fresh cows' milk and never knew I was brainwashed and stupid.

I think your narrow-minded rant does much damage to any valid point which may be buried within somewhere, though.

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Oh no! You are so offended!

I think you missed the point, perhaps if you read my further post on the subject you will understand that I'm talking about a belief-system based around the inane idea that cooking and pasteurizing one's foods renders them "unnatural" and "unhealthful." The stupidity comes with the huge risk, specifically to pregnant women, of infection from drinking raw milk and eating raw cheese (again, if you digested my later post you'd see that my half-sister continued this behavior while pregnant), and that it is tied to other stupid and dangerous movements like antivax. As for brainwashed -- it's a meaningless and inflammatory term, I admit. But it takes a special amount of stupid to reject the fact that pasteurization is a proven method of reducing pathogens from beverages making them safer to consume.

Oh, you should look them up; the idiocy is spectacular! They think pasteurization is the height of evil, that it corrupts milk and makes it bad for you. My half-sister is one, and the height of her irresponsibility came when she happily consumed raw milk, eggs, cheese, and meat whilst pregnant. Or at least I thought that was the height of irresponsibility, until my new nephew was born and she revealed herself to be an antivaxer.

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Jesus Christ, if she's so opposed to all the advances in public health over the past couple of centuries, why doesn't she hunt and gather her own food and live in a cave?

As I was told, bloodlines are English, Scot, Scotch-Irish, Welsh, and either German or Dutch. A family tree that I saw traced to an ancestor with the same last name as arriving in North America from Devonshire, England around 1650.

I hope I get to attend the next Pow Pow of the Monacan Nation here in Virginia later this year. My cousins have been wanting me to come to meet other members of the extended family who have Monacan heritage. It looks like it'd be very fun and educational, plus there are many people on my dad's side of the family I've never had the opportunity to meet over the years.

I hope I get to attend the next Pow Pow of the Monacan Nation here in Virginia later this year. My cousins have been wanting me to come to meet other members of the extended family who have Monacan heritage. It looks like it'd be very fun and educational, plus there are many people on my dad's side of the family I've never had the opportunity to meet over the years.

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Oh, I hope you do get a chance to go! I was able to attend 2 hosted by the local band when I was much younger (still living on the east coast, so it must have been about 100 years ago now!). I feel like I really learned a lot (and I had a fantastic time).

I kind of wish I had taken full advantage of that opportunity to meet and connect with people. But I was really young at the time, and I still believed that those types of opportunities would be plentiful.